Asbestos litigation—date of knowledge (White v SSHSC and Cuthbert v Taylor Woodrow)

Article summary

PI & Clinical Negligence analysis: Each appeal raised the question whether, in dismissing the claims, the trial judge had applied the correct legal test for the establishing of a duty of care in circumstances where the deceased parties had been exposed intermittently to low levels of asbestos dust up to 1960. The claimants, relying on the authorities of Jeromson, Maguire and Owen contended that the judge had failed to apply the correct test of foreseeability and that, because there was no means by which to measure asbestos exposure during the period in question and uncertainty about exactly what level of exposure could be regarded as safe, this meant that there was a duty to eliminate all exposure so far as possible. This contention was rejected by the Court of Appeal, thereby resolving the long running dispute as to the proper interpretation of the judgments in Jeromson, Maguire and Owen. Written by Catherine Foster, barrister at Crown Office...